The GO LOCAL Project

The Sonoma County GO LOCAL Cooperative, is a community stakeholder alliance composed of businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, and government entities committed to reclaiming local economic power by...

  • Educating the community on the benefits of supporting a resilient, thriving local economy
  • Engaging all community stakeholders by providing ownership in the cooperative and process
  • Formalizing and strengthening community relationships
  • Sustaining well-being through community reinvestment and enterprise incubation

Efforts to start a network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) to support locally-owned businesses in Sonoma County originally coalesced in September of 2006 with the formation of BALLE Sonoma County as a non-profit organization. As the enterprise began to grow, the limitations of the non-profit structure became apparent. After a brief period of restructuring by the founding team, along with the addition of some fresh talent, the Sonoma County GO LOCAL Cooperative was born. For more information visit GO LOCAL's website.

The GO LOCAL Vision

Build a resilient, thriving local economy in Sonoma County that supports people and the planet through economic localization.

How We've Helped

Even before our company officially formed in February 2009, we were actively involved in the development of Sonoma County’s BALLE network and its transition to the GO LOCAL Cooperative.  Some key highlights are . . .

  • Helped form the GO LOCAL Cooperative in 2008.  Developed bylaws for GO LOCAL, adopted by the board in December 2009, that will eventually allow members to invest in community businesses through GO LOCAL's cooperative structure.
  • Produced growth from 35 to 385 business/org members and from 0 to 20,000 individual cardholders through marketing and community relations.
  • Raised $87,500 in grants to seed GO LOCAL in the early critical stage (2009-10), which provided paid staff and educational marketing to awaken public awareness to local first.
  • Provided a community web platform with integrated rewards card that fulfills the specific needs of localization networks.
  • Launched and managed industry specific campaigns for Bank Local and Made Local (food-related), which greatly enhanced the GO LOCAL market presence.
  • Cultivated relationships with key economic development policy makers in Sonoma County and regularly represent GO LOCAL in collaborative policy settings with government agencies.
  • Developed a clear plan for implementing a holistic community economic system, including community credit clearing and small business development with local investment capital.
  • Have implemented marketing tactics which have produced a commercial media value of $8MM for the GO LOCAL family of brands.